This Weather Sucks!!!!

Okay... so as gung-ho as I was for a whole day about doing a blog... I actually forgot about it till a friend asked me something that I had posted on my one and only Post. I guess that places me in the You Suck As A Blogger category.

So, where are we today. Oh ya... still in a flippin deep freeze that just won't go away. It is wreaking havoc on all my outdoor activity plans... AND today I broke down and wore a toque to work. You know what that means... yep... Hat Head. Really sexy look that is :)

Anyways, back to cancelled outdoor activities. As a runner, I am used to running in all types of weather but this extended arctic stay is slowly breaking me down. On Saturday, ski lessons were cancelled due to the temp (second saturday in a row too) and Sunday, a scheduled hike (that I was looking forward to) was cancelled as well. With the cancellation of the sunday hike, I thought well that is fine.. i'll just go running with my group instead. A measly 14k won't be that bad.

Alarm goes off... I sit up and put my slippers on and slowly pad out to the living room to check the temp. I need to do this so I know how many layers I need to wear for my run. As i'm doing this i'm envisioning how pleasantly surprised my running group is going to be when they see i'm there to run with them. So flip to The Weather Channel, and watch and wait. When I saw the actual temp, -27 .... -3okazillion with windchill it took all of 2 seconds for me to turn off the tv and head back to my bedroom. As I slowly sank into my bed under my covers I had a moment when I thought I should feel guilty .... this brief moment of course passed very quickly.

Another thing i've noticed about the weather and when folks find out you are a runner is, first the incredulous look of... "well you don't actually run in the winter... do you?"

When I reply, "Why yes I do"

This is quickly followed by.."In this weather?!!!"

When I say yes we do, the look then moves to what I would like to think of as awe and inspiring but the reality is that it is more like an "are you eff-n nuts!" kind of look followed by "do you know how cold it is out there?" ... "don't your lungs freeze?". I reply with my standard responses to these q's and try to leave any evidence of a condesending tone out of my voice. I fail miserably at this. hmmfff... running newbies! :)

Now, getting back to this arctic weather system we have been experiencing for the past couple of weeks... as I said before ... it is slowly breaking me. I have absolutely no urge to run at all this week which I know I will regret cause of all the Christmas cheering I've been doing with friends this past week. I'm thinking sweats are going to be my best friend next week. :)

Oh well, Christmas is only a couple of days away now, and since I'm going to a Flames game for New Year's Eve this year I now don't have the added pressure of being able to fit into a little black dress for the evening.

My friend, who is from Italy and just returned to this lovely weather, said to me ... "But Marie, you're from Saskatchewan. You should be used to it".

She had me there.  Yes I am from Saskatchewan, and yes I have experienced this weather... lots!

But that doesn't mean I have to like it!

My first blog

Well... here I am at the keyboard searching searching my thoughts for some deep profound pearls of wisdom or views. At this time... blanko... nothing nada zip zilch.

Let's back up to 10 minutes ago (which btw would be the same line of reasoning as 2years ago)... where I would say "blogging?" ... "what the heck does someone like me have any business doing by creating a blog?" Where do I come off thinking that in my life there is enough interesting tidbits of value enough to share with friends, family, strangers on a daily basis.

hmmm... let's think about that one shall we... to begin with let me lay out briefly my plans (as they stand today) for the remainder of this year as well as next;

Weekends in Dec are full now with Ski Lessons on Saturdays (lessons are the result of my skiing experience on the Kicking Horse, but that might be a story for another time :) )

I run (for sure) 3 days a week (usually 4)

• I'm a pacer for the Half Marathon running clinic (which I love btw)
• Tues is clinic night. Informational session followed by a run.
• Wed is run club (now called Evil Hills night)
• Sundays are always my long slow distance (lsd) runs. As the clinic progresses the sunday lsd get longer and longer.

Goal Race for the half marathon clinic is in February and it's called the Hypothermic Half. Nice hey. Yah, you can be guaranteed that will be the coldest day in Feb :(

After the half clinic I jump right into full marathon training... for a marathon in Paris on April 5th. mmm-hmmm. That's right. Paris, as in Paris FRANCE. For this I will run through the long dark dank evil days of winter. ugh ugh and double ugh. I tell ya, the things I do to buy a pair of Christian Louboutien's.

After the whirlwind that I know will be the wonderful and lovely trip to Par-ee... I am taking a full 3 weeks off to recover. I know I will gain at least (and that is L-E-A-S-T) 5 lbs instantly during this time frame.... doesn't life suck sometimes. Anyways, then I jump into training for the Death Race. Yep that is the Canadian Death Race and this event occurs Aug long weekend. I have signed up for Leg 2 of a relay team. It is my first death race and if I think about it too much I will work my way into a tizzy and question my sanity (again). For now though, it is just a thought of something that I will be doing ... but that's not till wayyyy later next year.

So for my first blog that is my 2009 in a nutshell. That is only skimming the surface I know and there will probably be some 10k and half marathon races in there somewhere but haven't committed to anything else yet.

Oh yah... and i'm trying to find a BF ... and not even a BF per se, just finding some guys that I would consider worth introducing to my cat. Which now that i've decided to start dating again that is a whoooolllllleeee 'nother blog (or series of blogs) altogether :)

Is that interesting so far?